The Zen of Ultra Running

Earlier this year I got a FB message from the race director that Doan Creek registration is open. It's "free" for runners. To enter, you just have to donate money to a charity that the RD selected. I heard good things about the race from people who ran it last year. I heard that the trail was technical and full of roots and rocks. This race was part of the BBA 50K race series. All the money raised from the race will go to a charity. The day before the race (Friday) I went to try Masters swimming practice in the morning and did so many kicks that my legs felt like jello. I woke up on Saturday morning felt like I had run 50K the day before. The 25K race started at 10am (50K started at 8am). The race was in Shaker Heights in Cleveland. Nice neighborhood. From my experience with the familiarization run and course clean up day, I knew the parking would be hard to find as there were not many parking spot near the park. We had to park on the streets that the RD told us on th...

This year I did not have good luck on the marathons. The 2 road marathons that I ran (Canton Hall of fame marathon and Akron marathon) were really HOT and humid. The first marathon (Canton) I got a free bib from someone so I was not really "training" for it. Plus, it was also my first road marathon ever so I did not have any expectation on time. Then, I was hoping for a good weather at the Akron marathon because it was in September. Who would know that we would have another 90+ degrees day in late September?!?! I also ran it as a part of the relay team and as a "training run" so, again, no expectation on time. However, I secretly had hoped that I would have got in under 5 hours because my time at the first road marathon was 5 hours and 30 minutes. I knew I could have run faster but decided to stay conservative with myself. My time at the Akron marathon was 5 hours and 24 minutes. Not a disappointment because I knew I could not run fast in hot, humid weather. On ...